This companion measure of poverty better shows the impact of safety net programs like SNAP (food stamps), state and federal Earned Income Tax Credits, and the Child Tax Credit, which aren’t incorporated into the official poverty rate.

“Oklahoma’s relatively high poverty rate shows we need to be enacting proven poverty-fighting policies more than ever,” said DeVon Douglass, a policy analyst with Oklahoma Policy Institute. “Unfortunately state lawmakers went the opposite direction this year by slashing Oklahoma’s Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) for working families making low wages. With the gains we were seeing from the state EITC, lawmakers’ vote to slash it was a heavy blow to advocates and working families. Still, this is not a cause for despair. It’s an opportunity for Oklahoma to right the wrongs of the previous legislative session by restoring the state EITC next year.”

Oklahoma uninsured rate improves but still among highest in country

This week the U.S. Census also released new data on health insurance coverage in Oklahoma and the United States.

In 2014, 15.4 percent of Oklahomans were uninsured.

In 2015 that number dropped to 13.9 percent — an all-time low for the state. Oklahoma’s uninsured rate improvement matches the nationwide trend due to the Affordable Care Act expanding coverage to millions of Americans.

The estimated total number of uninsured Oklahomans has dropped from 666,000 in 2013 to 533,000 in 2015.

Oklahoma Uninsured Rate, Photo via OK Policy Institute

Despite this progress, Oklahoma in 2015 had the third highest uninsured rate in the nation, behind only Alaska and Texas.

Oklahoma and other states that have so far refused to expand Medicaid are making much less progress in reducing uninsured rates compared to states that accept federal funds to expand coverage.

In states that expanded coverage, the uninsured rate fell 44 percent from 2013 to 2015, while in non-coverage expansion states it fell just 27 percent.

Uninsured Rate Gap Between Oklahoma and States that Expanded Medicaid Grew Even Larger in 2015, Photo via OK Policy Institute

“It’s great to see more proof that the Affordable Care Act is boosting health coverage in Oklahoma,” said Oklahoma Policy Institute’s Policy Director Gene Perry. “But lawmakers’ refusal to bring home all the benefits of this law means that we still lag behind the nation, and too many Oklahomans are still left uninsured. We are losing out on health benefits, economic boosts, and cost savings that most states have gained by expanding coverage using federal Medicaid dollars.”